The World Youth Championship(October 19-28, Batumi Georgia)is underway! 21 young talents are playing for the United States in twelve sections. After four rounds of play top U.S. scorers are Tatev Abrahamyan, who is 4-0 in the Girls U18 and Ray Robson, with 3.5/4 in the Boys U12.

Georgia has a strong chess tradition. Georgian heroine five-time Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili is so revered that a perfume was named "Nona" in her honor and a statue in her likeness stands in Zugdidi, Nona's hometown. The Georgian passion for chess was evident in their spectacular opening ceremony, pictured below:

Photo courtesy of Monroi.

Tatev and Ray lead U.S. Squad

Pan American Youth Champ Tatev Abrahayman is off to a confident 4-0 start. Her best game so far was against Iranian WIM Atousa Pourkashian. Tatev's queen sack on move 23 was the prettiest way to win.:

Ray Robson has 3.5/4 in the Boys U12. Photo Courtesy Duiju Yang

Gem by Banawa

The following Trompowsky triumph by Joel Banawa, features a deep positional exchange sacrifice:

In Soviet times, Georgia was known for having the best food of all Soviet republics. Although this doesn't appear to be kid-friendly fare, Darwin Yang and Eric Liao seem to be having a good time. Photo Dujiu Yang.

U.S. Team results so far are listed below. Keep up to date on the U.S. squad with this shortcut